Disclaimer: MPOW contacted me and asked if I would be interested in reviewing some of their products. The first product offered was the MPOW Clip on Lens 3 pack “MLens V1”.
With that out of the way, what is the MPOW Clip on Lens 3 pack “MLens V1”?
Well as the title alludes to, it is a pack of three different type of clip on lenses for your smartphone (or tablet, if you’re one of ‘those’ people). The three lens types offer the following.
- Wide angle at 0.36X
- Macro at 20X
- Fisheye
The lenses are made of a 4 element glass construction and have received a sizable upgrade from their original versions.
What’s in the box?
The packaging from MPOW gets better each time I see what of their products. They have come a long way from their brown-box/no label days.
Upon opening the box you are met with an instruction card with a brief explanation of each lens and how to obtain the best experience with their use. Next you find the lenses, enclosed in a hard plastic travel case. This is an excellent inclusion, as I was constantly misplacing my older lenses since they would be tossed into a bag with several other accessories and peripherals.
The overall design of the lenses is much like several others found on the market, and for good reason. This design works – it’s that simple.
The large clip style makes installation on any phone I tried quick and simple.
Product Quality
The fit and finish of these lenses are of a fairly decent quality. Older versions of the lenses would twist and bind when leveraged and always felt like they would break if too much pressure was applied. That is not the case here, partially due to design and partially the materials used I felt the quality of the lenses was enough to handle the wear and tear from average use.
Image Quality
The image quality was found to be respectable. However I found two moderate issues with them.
- The wide angle lens does add a bit of a fisheye effect, which was less than desirable.
- The macro lens comes with a stand-off or riser which allows you to place the riser directly against the object you are shooting. However, depending on your lighting conditions a sort of light shining through water effect can be seen in the output.
Conclusion
Overall, the Mpow MLENS V1 is a respectable product but for most it may be too niche or impractical to use. Personally, I find that I will only pull lenses such as these out on rare occasions where the use would make sense. I would be unlikely to use these with any degree of regularity during the day to day or even when on a trip. With all that said however, I would certainly recommend someone who enjoys smartphone photography pick up a package of these lenses to keep in their arsenal of accessories when on the go.
What do you think? Are these too niche to be practical or is it something every smartphone photographer should be carrying? Sound off below!
GadgetSyrup 